Celebrity-Backed GARI Loses 80% of Its Value but Denies Security Breach

The GARI token, promoted by a leading Indian actor, has collapsed in price prompting speculation that it may have suffered a security breach or even a rug pull. 

Chingari‘s GARI, promoted by actor Salman Khan, plunged 80% from $0.73 to reach an all-time low of $0.1004 in a day.

A closer look at the charts indicates that the greatest drop happened an hour.

For observers, the dip in prices was reminiscent of the Terra (LUNA) incident in May that obliterated TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA.

GARI was backed by the veteran Bollywood actor with the aim of providing an avenue for Indian content creators to monetize their art. 

Chingari allows creators to make short videos and receive rewards through the GARI token. At the height of its fame, the Chingari app reached a milestone of over 50 million downloads, with GARI reaching an all-time high of $1.05 at the start of the year.

Not a breach, says GARI team

The team behind the project cleared the air around the incident by denying the network was subject to a security breach. The official statement noted that after an evaluation, no hack was identified on the token side, rather “this looks like a market event.”

The report noted that KuCoin was the focus of the incident after a $2 million sell order took place to drag the token further. “In the initial stage of the dumping, the price was lower at KuCoin because we are the biggest and most liquid market for GARI, most traders chose to sell here,” said Johnny Lyu, KuCoin’s CEO.

To allay investors’ fears, the team said it had entered into talks with Indian crypto exchanges to get a full grasp of the situation. They noted that KuCoin had no hand in the price movement, as it maintained its neutrality while it hosted a botched AMA session in an attempt to tie up loose ends.

Celebrities and dubious crypto projects

Celebrities have a fitful relationship with crypto projects, often backing the wrong horses, causing investors to lose funds. YouTuber Jake Paul has a track record of promoting dubious crypto projects and was the focus of investigation in the SafeMoon class action. Crypto sleuth Coffeezilla also called out Paul for his role in Sacred Devils, Yummy, and StickDix.

And reality TV star Kim Kardashian and legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather were sued by disgruntled investors of EthereumMax, a crypto project heavily promoted by the duo. 

The celebrities were rumored to have been paid northwards of $1 million for endorsing the scam project.